Diaries of a former Le Cordon Bleu Paris Student.

SF Bay Area

July 08, 2009

In the quest for good cocktail bars here in San Francisco, we finally stumbled upon The Alembic Bar on Haight. Never mind that it was only 2 in the afternoon, the bar was full and we were in the good hands of the friendly staff there.

Food here is California cuisine meets comfort food: pork belly sliders, mussels with chorizo, pickled quail eggs, and balanced cocktails to match. Trust me, we'll be back. And the great photos are courtesy of H, playing with his new camera! Hopefully I'll learn how to use it and my pictures will improve.

July 06, 2009

June 03, 2009

Last Saturday, we made our weekly tour of the Ferry Building Farmer's Market, poking around and nibbling as usual. When we first arrived, there was a line of people waiting to get free samples from the Gourmet booth set up. Turns out it was their Follow The Farmers Market Tour. As much as the sample of olive oil intrigued me, the line was just too long for my patience.

After we finished our shopping, we happened to find ourselves near the booth again, this time with a much shorter line. I jumped into line, eager to quickly get my hands on some of the body products and olive oil. Come on, who can turn down free stuff?

But the line didn't budge, even though I was within reaching distance of the first basket. An ornery (and I mean ornery!) old lady was blocking the entire table with her body and her wheeled shopping cart, snarling at the couple behind her if they got too close. She was grabbing all she could while firing questions at the poor Gourmet staff person behind the table: "What is this? What's in there?"

She then proceeded to move 2 inches down the table before turning around and grabbing her cart, muttering, "Excuse me! I need my walking cart, don't try to cut me" when clearly she hadn't needed it for the last few minutes. The poor couple was quite intimidated by her, and I was getting annoyed because she showed no concern for the patient people behind her.

Anyway, she finally moved away and I swiped my samples, disappointed that they had run out of olive oil. I entered my name in their drawing basket without having a clue as to what the prizes were. And to my surprise, I get an email from Gourmet saying I had won a Green & Black Organic Chocolates package!

It arrived speedily in the mail in a box packed snugly: 13 different bars of chocolate (including baking chocolate), and a canister of hot chocolate and a canister of cocoa powder. I can't wait to start exploring and tasting, though the first task will be to figure out which bar to give to my nice concierge downstairs who loves chocolate and whose face lit up when I mentioned what the package was.

So I guess the lessons I learned this weekend were to be patient and always enter drawings because you never know what might happen. What a delicious surprise.

November 18, 2008

Everyone always gets jealous when they find out I work from home. True, there is a lot of freedom, I can wear pajamas all day or watch TV while I work, and I test recipes when I get bored of sitting in front of the computer. But there is little social interaction and sometimes it's hard to get motivated. I do miss teaching and having the kids in my class always surprising me with something funny or unexpected.

Luckily, I can pretend that I'm part of the bustling downtown San Francisco workforce since it's a short walk away. I go to the Thursday Crocker Galleria farmer's market and act like I too am using my lunch hour to pick up what's in season. The one thing I refuse to do, though, is to wear white sneakers with my "office" outfit when walking around the city!

Besides the market, I am still trying to figure out the downtown takeout lunch scene, which is surprisingly bleak. There are tons of delis and random takeout places, but it's very hard to figure out where to go and what is good. I'd read about The Sentinel, and as it's quite close to Crocker Galleria, I decided to try it out.

It's a little difficult to find since it's a tiny storefront on a corner with no real signage. But the smell of fresh-baked bread was the clear indicator that I was in the right place. Well, that and the line snaking around the corner. Lots of people making sandwiches in a miniscule kitchen with barely room to breathe.

Opened by Chef Dennis Leary of Canteen, this is his breakfast / lunch spot. Fresh pastries in the morning, a short list of sandwiches and a soup, as well as some specials. It has quite an old-fashioned feel to it, and I loved the fact that the sandwiches choices are deliberately done for you, you don't pick your meat, cheese, and toppings from a long list - you let the chef create a combo he thinks is interesting.

I opted for the corned beef sandwich, which was on crunchy flatbread (more like focaccia) topped with Gruyère cheese, homemade Russian dressing, and caramelized onions. There also seemed to be some kind of sauerkraut- like cabbage on top which added some acidity. In the takeout box was a big pickle spear (not too sour, would've liked it more tart), and an Andes mint.

Don't expect thin New York-style corned beef, these were thicker slices with some chew to it. Overall, I liked the sandwich but ended up adding some whole-grained mustard for a little more contrast to the all the richness, as the Gruyère was quite strong. It was a big portion, and while it was $8.50, not too bad for a downtown lunch that could've been enough for two meals. The only hard part is finding a place to sit around there if you don't work nearby. You could head over to Crocker Galleria and use their tables and chairs, but otherwise, pray for a nice day so that you can sit outside!

Food-wise, though, it has a few cute little restaurants but very few places worth driving especially to the island (as locals call it) for. Then, a few years ago, the Alameda Marketplace opened up.

My initial impressions were that it would never survive. Things were too expensive, too specialized and didn't seem to fit in with the community. The produce, while organic, never looked fabulous, and the only thing that interested me were the pastries they purchased from local bakeries.

Now I realize I didn't understand the place, and that I also didn't really know how to cook to appreciate the amazing ingredients they have there. Feel Good Bakery has some of the best baguettes in the East Bay excluding ACME, although my pet peeve with them is that they are expensive and do not label their goods with prices.

I've slowly started to get to know the other vendors there, with JP Seafood Company being my favorite. They remind me of Captain Marden's in the Boston area, with impeccable seafood and knowledgeable people behind the counter who will gladly source things for you that they don't have in stock. Baron's Meat & Poultry across the way has meat dry aging in a special refrigerator, what more can you ask for? They don't have the rare and game meats that Savenor's in Boston has, but they are friendly and helpful. In fact, when I went in yesterday and bought an onglet, he referred me to the seafood stand (good thing I was already headed there!).

So I'm proud of my cute little hometown, with its drawbridges and bay breezes. Here's what I did with the red snapper I bought from JP Seafood, turned out well served with caramelized onion Israeli couscous and steamed baby bok choy!

Turn heat down to medium and wipe out skillet carefully with a paper towel. Add butter and swirl to coat bottom of pan and melt. Let butter foam and start to brown, about 1 minute. Turn off heat, add salt, chipotles, and lime juice and swirl pan again. Pour over fish and sprinkle with fresh cilantro.

September 30, 2008

I walked into the Berkeley Bowl today, intending to get some ingredients for lasagna for family dinner on Thursday. Somehow I walked out with $54.47 worth of groceries, when I usually spend less than $20 there for two people.

But for good reason! I couldn't believe my eyes that 20 pounds of Roma tomatoes by the case were $4.95. $4.95! Tomorrow will commence The Great Canning Experience, as they also happened to sell pint Mason jars, which I picked up a case of for $9.58. I had so much fun loading my cart and was (again) amazed at the prices. Thank goodness the apartment building lends out hand carts because I sure needed one today to get everything out of the car.

The vegetable drawers are now full to bursting, I have all the fixings for an amazing lasagna (homemade ricotta, homemade sauce), and I have some interesting choices for dinner now. I love the Berkeley Bowl.